Hey Steve, you’re asking professional questions here and I am
an amateur. You probably have considerably more experience
than I with all the surfboards that have been through your hands.

Regular epoxy would indeed be too viscous unless you had a pretty
wide orifice tip.

The whole spray gun thing can be daunting (I did a bit of body
and fender work in my youth), and I have a local auto paint store
here that will mix me up an epoxy spray (with hardener) in an aerosol
spray can for about $15 which is plenty adequate for a deck. Naturally
you need to use the stuff within 24 hours (or it kicks in the can), but it
works pretty slick. Maybe you would call it epoxy paint rather than epoxy.
It goes on like thick spray paint.

My recollection was that we used toluene to clean the sprayer and
lines, back when I was painting cars, but the vapors from those
episodes, or maybe my advanced years now, have degraded my
memory enough that you probably shouldn't trust me.

-Craig

swchandler wrote:

Craig,

Just curious about spraying with a two-part 5/1 epoxy. Epoxy seems a bit thick from a viscosity standpoint to work well in a spray gun, and then there's also the matter of its catalytic nature. In the case of the latter, I thinking that you really need to be done with the spraying well before things start to gel. To extend working time, do you use a slow cure hardener instead of the normal hardener? Also, any problem in dealing with the aerated epoxy overspray, and how do you deal with it?

Lastly, I'm assuming that you clean up the spray gun and all its components with acetone. Any useful tips to achieve the best cleaning result?

isobars wrote - "I've never understood why so many sailors and shapers and factories try so hard to avoid pads. IMO, they are a win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win/win -- count 'em -- solution with no downside that I've ever encountered."

My only thought is, the added weight. Personally, I don't care.
But, I'm just guessing that guys concerned with - racing... jumping... first to plane... etc. don't want to carry around any extra weight than absolutely needed. Yes, I know it's only a few ounces. But were you around, back when everybody was removing the nice neoprene straps, to instead install no-frills hard straps that had very little adjustment? THAT was all to save a few ounces of water weight held by the comfy straps.
Anyway, I think you make many good points about all the other "pros". I was just throwing out, the one "con" that I'm aware of, since you asked

Next - I have very good results with the easiest product to use. The Monster Traction Paint. It's easy, fast and very effective. And I agree, I think that for slimy mud, it would be the most effective. You're going to have to hose off your board thoroughly, no matter what you use, each session... to get any good results, next sesh.
It's in the link that adywind posted at North Shore Inc.

But also, check out the Goop product that U2 mentioned. It "might" be about the same as the Monster product. If it is, get the one easiest for you to acquire. But check carefully... if it's not the same, I'd get the Monster stuff.

were you around, back when everybody was removing the nice neoprene straps, to instead install no-frills hard straps that had very little adjustment?

Yup. When I complained in a WSing magazine that I could tear them in half barehanded, their designer/manufacturer cried BS to the magazine editor and me in person. I didn't say a word; I just picked a new one up from the table and ripped it into two halves, after which he didn't say much.

Not sure why.

I've weighed a full set of deck (from behind the back straps to near the mast track), nose, rail, and tail pads. Something like 3 ounces ... less than the weight of a significant repair or any ingested water.

My thinking would be that the biggest weight saving for many sailors would be their own adipose.

Yes... that's true for most of us
But (and I'm not a physicist) the smart guys here can answer this. But, there's something about the weight of the gear, that's much more important than the weight of the participant. It's been studied A LOT.
By bike company's and many others. It has to do with acceleration, or static weight, as opposed to weight that you can move around (like your body).

Anyway, yes, body weight is also huge in windsurfing (which is why "WE" should give our weight, if we're going to give a sail size we used out sailing). But gear weight is VERY important as well. Which is why racers will pay $1000 more for one raceboard over another, to save a little weight.

Again, to me... not such a big deal. I'd rather have a reasonable balance between durability and light weight and cost

And yes, thanks "Iso".. the pads don't weigh very much at all. I was just remembering the "one con" to pads. I suppose the new pads don't hold much water weight either. THAT was the concern for the footstraps. It wasn't the dry weight... it was the wet-weight.

I wonder what the racing SUP's are doing. Full pads, or not much? They would have the same concerns.. and probably have the lightest and driest pads.

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